The Problem With Protein Absorption “Ceilings”

Claims that the body can only absorb so much protein in one sitting are usually based on one of the following ideas (or both):

“All foods move through the small intestine in 2 to 3 hours.”

If this were true…if your body was in a race against time to process the food you eat…then the matter would be pretty open and shut.

Even if you ate a very fast-absorbing protein like whey, you could only absorb 25 to 30 grams before it would be “too late.”

Well, as you now know, that’s just not how it works.

Your body is able to regulate the speed at which protein moves through the small intestines to ensure it can absorb all of the available amino acids.

This isn’t just theory, either.

For example, a study conducted by scientists the National Human Nutrition Research Center (France) had 16 young women eat 79% of the day’s protein (about 54 grams) in one meal or four meals over the course of 14 days.

Researchers found no difference between the groups in terms of protein metabolism.

Furthermore, if we look at the amount of protein in the high-protein meals relative to the average body weight of the participants, it comes out to about 1.17 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.

Apply that to a man weighing 80 kilograms (176 pounds), and you get about 94 grams of protein in each meal.

Your hormones. Elevated levels of growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) stimulate muscle synthesis. If your body has high levels of these anabolic hormones, it will utilize protein better than someone that has low levels.